Al-Muktafi

al-Muktafi (877-13 August 908) was the Abbasid Caliph from 5 April 902 to 13 August 908, succeeding al-Mu'tadid and preceding al-Muqtadir.

Biography
al-Muktafi was the son of al-Mu'tadid and a Turkish slave girl, and he became Caliph on his father's death. He was more liberal and sedentary than his militaristic father, and he left most of the government to his viziers and officials, who continued his father's policies. al-Muktafi defeated the Qarmatians of the Syrian desert and reincorporated Egypt and Syria into the Abbasid Caliphate, and he continued the war against the Byzantine Empire, sacking Thessalonica in 904. He died in 908, and the weakling al-Muqtadir became caliph, leading to the terminal decline of the caliphate.